Editor's Note: We're teaming up with our friends over at Food52 to bring you even more easy weeknight recipes. Food52 recipes will appear on this site every Tuesday and Thursday, and are carefully curated by the Serious Eats team. Check back on Serious Eats every weekday afternoon for a new quick and easy weeknight dinner idea from our own test kitchens, or from the good folks at Food52.

Summer vegetables come together in a traditional minestrone soup that gets a kick of heat and richness from the addition of sliced, crispy bacon. For an even heartier meal, serve it with some frozen cheese tortellini and a generous stir-in of garlicky basil pesto.

J. Kenji López-Alt is the Chief Culinary Advisor of Serious Eats, and author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab, where he unravels the science of home cooking. A restaurant-trained chef and former Editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine, his first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science is a New York Times Best-Seller, the recipient of a James Beard Award, and was named Cookbook of the Year in 2015 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

He's currently raising a daughter by day, writing his second book by night (Now with 10% more science!), and is working on Wursthall, a beer hall in downtown San Mateo which will be open by the end of 2017.